Irish restaurants in Boston are a dime a dozen but there is only one that can boast having a cottage built inside. Four Green Fields has opened just outside of Government Center at One Boston Place and offers traditional live Irish music, weekly readings from authors, and monthly shows by national Celtic rock bands, including Black 47, The Screaming Orphans, and The Prodigals. Four Green Fields is named after a song by Irish singer Tommy Makem, referring to the four provinces of Ireland. In the warmer months, head out to the enormous outdoor patio, which is popular for al fresco dining in summer.
We visited the location one recent Friday evening and enjoyed dinner on the first floor while listening to some live Irish music. There is an upstairs pub that is available for private parties and functions. In the main dining room there is a beautiful thatched roof cottage constructed by a professional thatcher from Scotland, which is available for the Chef’s Table dining experience for up to 20 people in an authentic Irish cottage. (Be sure to take a look inside here at the beautiful Irish, French, and Eastern European artwork that lines the walls).
The menu here ranges from the traditional staples you would expect to find like Irish potato chips, Guinness stew, and fish and chips, to the more nontraditional, which includes lamb lollipops, spinach and cranberry salad, and sautéed chicken in a sundried tomato pesto sauce served over gemelli pasta. We started off with an order of golden fried crispy calamari tossed with banana peppers and served with a side of curry ketchup and sweet chili sauce. We loved the generous portion of enormous, tender mussels, which arrived in an onion, tomato, garlic, parsley and white wine sauce served with crispy toast points.
Our friendly server, Fabion, suggested the baked scrod for an entrée and I took his recommendation. A nice light piece of flaky fish arrived with a side of white rice, along with crunchy Brussels sprouts and carrots. The fish chowder was overflowing with salmon, cod, shrimp and mussels in a tomato and onion white wine sauce tossed with red bliss potatoes. A visit to any Irish restaurant would be remiss without a sampling of bread pudding and Four Green Fields delivered a rich sampling with a side of creamy vanilla ice cream.
There is a second location in Tampa, Florida. For more information, visit FourGreenFields.com or call (617) 367-4747.
